The end for Mr Speaker? Calls to quit grow as Yard contradictshis statement to Commons

The future of Commons Speaker Michael Martin is in growing doubt today after a war of words broke out between him and Scotland Yard over the arrest of senior Tory MP Damian Green.

A poll suggested two-thirds of MPs think Mr Martin should quit after police were allowed to trample centuries of Parliamentary privilege by raiding the Commons without even being asked for a search warrant.

Detectives hit back at the Speaker's attempt to save his skin by directly contradicting his suggestion that the operation was illegal. They insisted it had been carried out in full compliance with the law.

Assistant Met Commissioner Bob Quick, who was called in by the Government to investigate Home Office leaks, said his officers made clear to Commons authorities that police could not search an MP's office without permission.

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Mr Martin told MPs that he knew of the raid in advance but admitted failing to question the legality of the operation.

He claimed police did not tell the Serjeant at Arms Jill Pay, one of his senior officials, that she did not have to allow them to conduct a search, as the law requires.

'I knew nothing': Jacqui Smith today

His words to MPs on Wednesday were: 'I have been told that the police did not explain, as they are required to do, that the Serjeant was not obliged to consent or that a warrant could have been insisted upon.'

But in a letter to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Mr Quick said officers 'were satisfied' that Mrs Pay knew she could insist on a warrant.

Mr Quick wrote: 'The officers explained the nature of the investigation and the purpose of the search and were satisfied that the Serjeant at Arms understood that police had no power to search in the absence of a warrant and therefore could only do so with her written consent or that of the Speaker.'

Gordon Brown tried to shore up the increasingly isolated Speaker after two senior ministers refused to express confidence in him.

The Prime Minister appeared at odds with his deputy Harriet Harman and housing minister Margaret Beckett, who both declined to back Mr Martin in the wake of the scandal.

A private poll of 100 political insiders for the website Politics Home.com revealed that twothirds of Parliamentarians now think Mr Martin must go.

Some MPs are starting to call openly on the Speaker to quit, despite the convention that they should never criticise the holder of the office.

There was further anger yesterday that a committee of MPs being set up by the Speaker to investigate the fiasco will be loaded in favour of the Government.

It emerged that the committee of seven senior MPs will reflect the balance of power in the Commons, meaning it will be Labour controlled.

Despite his pledge that it would urgently investigate the affair, the Parliamentary inquiry will not in fact start until after the police have concluded their investigation, which could take months.

Raid: Anti-terror officers searching Damian Green's Commons office

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg last night increased the pressure on the Speaker by announcing that he had no confidence in his inquiry. He said no LibDem MP would be allowed to sit on the committee, effectively rendering it redundant.

Miss Harman refused six times to say she had full confidence in Mr Martin in an extraordinary interview with Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman.

A visibly uncomfortable Miss Harman, who is Leader of the Commons, told him: 'I am not saying I have full confidence in anything or anybody.'

She admitted the unprecedented police raid on Parliament which the Speaker failed to object to had left those involved in 'difficult circumstances'.

Mrs Beckett also refused to endorse him, saying only: 'It is not for the Government to pronounce on the Speaker; the Speaker is elected by the House.'

Their stance is understood to have triggered anger in Downing Street.

High drama: Speaker Michael Martin making his statement on Wednesday

Labour MP Stephen Pound, who is close to Mr Martin, attacked Miss Harman's replies as 'not collegiate or comradely'.

Mr Brown insisted: 'I've got a great deal of confidence in the Speaker. He's got a very difficult job and he tries to do it, and does it, to the best of his ability.'

Mr Brown said Miss Harman had simply been trying to point out that the Government had no say in whether a Speaker should remain in office or not.

Tory MP Douglas Carswell said: 'It's significant that as the Leader of the Commons refuses to back Mr Martin, there are now a number of MPs willing to go on the record with their criticisms.'

Senior Tory MP Richard Bacon, a member of the public accounts committee, said: 'I have no confidence in the Speaker's willingness or ability to defend Parliament or me as an MP so that I can defend the interests of my constituents. He has to go. It is that simple.'